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Law School grant to examine preventive detention

30 November 2005

Monash Law Dean Professor Arie Freiberg and Associate Dean (Research) Professor Bernadette McSherry have been awarded almost $64,000 by the Criminology Research Council to investigate preventive detention.

Professor Bernadette McSherry.

Associate Professor Patrick Keyzer, from the University of Technology, Sydney, is also part of the research project, 'Preventive detention for "dangerous" offenders in Australia: a critical analysis and proposals for policy development'.

Professor McSherry said the project would focus on the regime of preventive detention under the Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act 2003 (Qld).

"We will compare this Act with existing and mooted models to assess the policy implications for preventive detention throughout Australia," she said.

"A principal objective of the Queensland preventive detention legislation -- where offenders are kept in detention after the expiry of their sentence -- is the protection of the community.

"This objective is used in a number of other social policy contexts, including the mental health field and to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

Professor Arie Freiberg.

"However, preventive detention regimes provide a questionable solution to protecting the community from potential harm."

Professor McSherry said there was a general principle in law that people should be jailed only after being found guilty. Preventive detention after the expiry of a sentence could be viewed as double punishment, she said.

"We will be examining whether supervision and monitoring in the community or treatment options provide workable alternatives to continued detention."

The Criminology Research Council controls and administers the Criminology Research Fund, which provides grants to researchers in universities, government departments and other institutions in Australia.

The council supports research in sociology, psychology, law, statistics, police, judiciary, corrections, mental health, social welfare and education, with outcomes that should have the potential for application in other jurisdictions or nationally.